"Raw Materials" is much more than a record of Nauman's turbine hall sound work , that includes here many pin sharp colour illustrations,texts, interviews and curator commentaries of one of contemporary art's most quietly influential if sometimes truculent practioners. a selected bibliography,biography along with many exanmples of his multifaceted work through the years make this book an approachable, concise volume. the layout is stylish ,neat, with concise curator texts + excellent colour illustrations of Naumans' rich legacy of both neon as well as video installation works that provide a wider counterpoint to the main featured sound installation work here. "Raw Materials" is a design led, "conceptual" rather than lucid approachable book that no doubt is intended for Nauman fans rather than illuminating his modus operandi to any great extent. for me - more could have been made of the actual sound installation work that ~Nauman devised for the Turbine Hall featured here in terms of wider historical precedents + earlier influences perhaps.

Bruce Nauman (1941 -) is arguably the most influential artist at work in the world today. His pioneering explorations of sculpture, performance, film, video, neon and sound art have seen him investigating areas of art practice years before his peers, providing inspiration for innumerable artistic careers. Nauman has always drawn on a wide range sources for his own work, including the philosophy of Wittgenstein, the music and writings of John Cage, Gestalt Therapy, and literary sources including Alain Robbe-Grillet, Elias Cannetti and Samuel Beckett. He has collaborated with a wide range of film-makers, musicians, dancers and artists including Jasper Johns, Richard Serra, Meredith Monk, Terry Allen and Merce Cunningham. In 1989 he married the artist Susan Rothernberg and moved his home and studio to a ranch in New Mexico, where he indulges an increasingly intense interest in training horses. He has exhibited internationally since the mid 1960s.